This invention relates generally to microwave apparatus, and more particularly to a crossed field meander line slow-wave circuit device.
It has been determined in prior art crossed field meander line circuits, for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,994, entitled "Meander Line Circuit With An Interdigital Ground Plane", and U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,738, entitled "Rail or Pedestal Mounted Meander Line Circuit For Cross-Field Amplifiers", C.D. Bates, et al. that removal of the dielectric between meander line segments results in several advantages heretofore unavailable, namely, it eliminates the effects of sputtering which would otherwise act as a collection surface for sputtered metal, it eliminates extraneous RF dielectric loading of the RF wave formed by the meander line, and it reduces segment-to-segment capacitance of the metallic meander line which in turn reduces the dispersion and increases the bandwidth of the device. In the referenced patents there are shown meander line slow-wave circuit devices in which the dielectric support includes a raised surface portion which is shaped identically with the metallic conductor material disposed thereon.